1.       Begin by giving a brief synopsis of the Piltdown hoax, including when and where it was found, by whom, and varying affects this had on the scientific community. Also include how the hoax was discovered and the varying responses it received from the scientist(s) involved and in the related fields of human evolution. (5 pts)

The Piltdown hoax refers to a scandal within the scientific community in which a laborer finds an unusual fragment of skull at Barkham Manor near the village of Piltdown and passes it on to Charles Dawson, an amateur archaeologist. Dawson invites a few select scientific minds to come dig with him in what he anticipates to reveal England’s own “primitive man”, since none had been found thus far. They find a part of the lower mandible of an ape-like being, with teeth similar in shape to a human’s. This excites the scientific community, adding credibility to Darwin’s evolutionary theories. Later proven false, and a setup, scientists were criticized and questioned, having always been considered esteemed. 

The human downfalls of jealousy and pride are obviously at the heart of this. Ambition is a great thing to have, but it must be accompanied to persistence and an unyielding work ethic.  I'm sure that there was a lot of national pressure within the scientific community since Britain had yet been unable to source evidence of a local primitive man , although several other countries had been able to take ownership of part of the history of our evolution. I'm not sure if this idea was spawned as a result of national pride to "keep up with the Jones'", or personal-the greed for recognition.  Either way, the general population, and, more specifically, peers in the scientific community would hope and assume that the quest for knowledge would remain accurate and unadultered   However, just like any hypothesis, every discovery, small or large, must be thoroughly tested and re-tested. Hope has no place in science.

The advancement of the dating process where the amounts of organic material remaining could be tested and the logical thought process of scientists who questioned the discovery enough to follow up aided the revelation to prove that it was, indeed, a hoax. Kenneth Oakley applied this test, which revealed that the bones contained the same amount of nitrogen that would be seen in a current specimen.  The jig was up!  They continued their horrified examination to realize that the teeth and bones had been filed down, and stained.


Although science may seem objective, if humans were not involved, science would not exist. Yes, the processes and the organisms we study would still exist, but science, by definition, is

1. a branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws: the mathematical sciences.

2. systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and experimentation.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/science

Humans are required to do the studying, the analysis, and to simply be creative enough to come up with new hypothesi to test

We must not just be so excited about a discovery that we mount it with pride in a museum and allow no one near it…we must not only test not only our hypothesis, but also what we consider hard evidence to guarantee the validity of its source.